Viswanathan Anand, a five-time world champion, will lead India in the second online chess Olympiad, which will take place from September 8 to 15. The Indian squad, who shared the trophy with Russia in the last edition, would be hoping to win it all this time.
Anand, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, R Pragganandhaa, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, R Vaishali, and B Savitha Shri are among the members of the team.
All of the players will be located in Chennai, and all of the games will be held there. Ten teams will compete in the first leg, with two qualifyings, and then FIDE, the world chess governing body, has opted on a knockout system.
“To bring the team together in one place is a dream come true in present times. We do not put any pressure. We aim to have a healthy atmosphere where the team gets along well,” said AICF President Sanjay Kapoor.
“This is only the beginning of many more good things to come for Indian chess. We are working in several departments to bring the benefits of the game and our aim is simple — to make India the number one chess-playing nation in the world,” added Bharat Singh Chauhan, AICF secretary of the federation.
Microsense, an internet company, will sponsor the team.